1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photographing method of a portable terminal having a camera, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for taking a photograph without an operation of pressing a shutter release button. This can be accomplished, for example, by using an infrared sensor which minimizes deterioration of image quality due to shaky hands or a shake of the photographing apparatus upon taking a picture.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, mobile terminals have been designed to have various functions in addition to basic voice communication, thereby serving users' convenience. Data rates continuously improve as information communication technology rapidly develops, and the amount of data which can be communicated efficiently has been expanded. In addition, mobile electronic apparatuses, such as mobile phones or notebooks, are presently equipped with an imaging device, such as a CCD image sensor or CMOS image sensor. These mobile electronic apparatuses including an imaging device have been popularized, and have the capability to transmit image data photographed by a camera module in real time.
Such mobile terminals, especially portable phones to be put into the market in the future, are to be equipped with high-pixel density cameras according to the tendency of portable phones to possess multi-functionality. Current portable phones have been upgraded to a MEGA class via a VGA class from the existing CIF class, so that mobile terminals are now in substantial competition with existing digital cameras boasting high pixel density.
The application of a high-pixel-density image sensor increases a resolution and makes it possible to take a picture of a high quality. However, it can cause a problem that since portable phones are increasingly designed to be smaller and smaller, a user having shaky hands during an operation of pressing the shutter release button will take pictures that are distorted. Such shakiness can cause a blur in a photographed picture, and can cause a blur in the beginning part of photographed contents in the case of a moving picture. In the case of a still picture with a relatively short exposure time, even a photographing apparatus not embedded in a mobile terminal requires a predetermined time and/or pressure for mechanically or electrically operating the shutter release, such as by pressing a button, shaking causes a substantial blur. Also, when the user fails in applying requisite minimum pressure of predetermined force, a result different from a subject's image desired by the user may be obtained.
In addition, users can connect a remote controller or a device to a photographing apparatus (either wired or wirelessly) in order to take a picture, when an auxiliary device for photographing is required. Since using an auxiliary device to take a picture may not be a familiar method of operating a photographic apparatus, different from a general method of handling a photographing apparatus through use of a photographing button, the user can be inconvenienced until he/she becomes accustomed to using the auxiliary device.